Addiction In The Heartland, Ctd

A reader writes:

The hidden meth battleground?  Hawaii.  It's been a growing problem on the island since the mid '80s, but in the last ten years it has detonated across the islands, especially on the President's home island of Oahu.  My friend has been working on the issue since her post-graduate days, and there's very little sign of it getting better. 

Hawaii ranks 4th in the nation for meth-related drug offenses and 3rd for meth-related treatment admissions.  Most frightening, its use amongst 10th graders increased an astonishing 87% between 2005 and 2007.  In a state that can't even afford to hold a runoff election for a congressional seat, it has been increasingly harder to confront the issue on a purely state level.

I went to college in Hawaii in 1997.  Weed by far and away was the recreational drug of choice for out of state college students.  But all of my friends who were local knew of at least one person who did "ice."  What's scary is that up until recently, the vast majority of meth was being imported from California and Mexico, via Mexican cartels.  Recently though, homegrown meth labs have been sprouting up like weeds. 

Hawaii is often forgotten on the national stage because it is practically regarded as another country.  But as far as damage to a single state from a single drug, Hawaii sadly takes the lead.

The Hawaii Meth Project provides some pretty intense ads. Image above taken from the "Faces Of Meth" series.